When I was designing the legs and side panels for the desk, I knew I wanted to incorporate a curved leg. I have seen a similar design element in several other pieces by different makers, and it has always caught my eye.Knowing that I wanted to use a similar shape, the curved legs where my starting point.

once I got the shape of the leg the way I wanted it, I needed to decided what to do with the side panels. I had looked at several other writing desks for inspiration before starting this piece. The more elegant ones did incorporated a side panel, centered between the legs; taking up about two thirds of the space. It was a nice touch, but I wasn’t sold on this design aspect; the panels just seemed to plain. As I played around with the design, it came to me to mimic the curve of the legs in the panels. My sketch made it seem like the panels where now a pronounced accent piece. So, I decided to draw more attention to it by using a different wood to set it off. I chose spalted maple. In the picture, the two woods look very similar, but as cherry ages, it will turn a deep brownish orange, which I think will add a nice contrast to the maple.